The invention relates to a method of positioning and soldering of electronic components on a printed circuit board, in which method soldering material is locally applied on the printed circuit board and a positioned component is fastened to the printed circuit board by melting and subsequent cooling down of said soldering material.
Such a method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,692. As described in this Patent, SMD components (Surface Mounted Devices) are put on the printed circuit board in contact with soldering paste, upon which the assembly is heated to a high temperature to soften or melt the soldering paste to a sufficient degree for obtaining a good adhesion between the components and the soldering material. The assembly is subsequently allowed to cool down again. As this Patent discloses, however, a disadvantage of this method is that components can easily become displaced during soldering, so that the positioning accuracy cannot be guaranteed, while also the formation of an even solder layer is difficult.
To solve these problems, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,692 proposes to fix the components first on the printed circuit board with an adhesive, which is cured by irradiation. The assembly thus obtained of printed circuit board and components glued to it may then be brought into contact with molten soldering material in order to achieve the soldered joint. A disadvantage of this method is that glueing of the components on the printed circuit board involves an additional process step, which considerably increases both the manufacturing cost and the time required for manufacture.